Russ A'd me something

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Dear Russ,

This is such an excellent question. I’m sure you’re not the first person to wonder how artists like myself fall into the mix when it comes to privacy and personal data. I’m all for transparency, and perhaps it might be interesting to see behind the curtain a bit.

First off, why so many platforms?

Social media can be helpful to cast a wide (though shallow) net. If you’re zeitgeist’y, the algorithm pops in your favour, and you reach a larger audience. God knows what information is gathered here, or what deals we make with the devils of data in return for the fleeting bumps of quantifiable gratification we get out of it.

From the artist perspective, the problem with socials is that we don’t own the relationship with “followers”. These platforms increasingly limit our reach to the very people who have already opted in, hoping that we’ll boost our posts. This feels like buying friends, because that’s what it is.

A recent post performed VERY WELL, but still reached fewer than 25% of followers. Recently, Instagram registered an average follower reach rate of 13.90%, while Facebook’s average reach rate was 6.53%. (source)

So artists seek one-to-one access to listeners. I believe the tech-bro term here is “return path”. Let’s say that amidst the never-ending cavalcade of content being shoved down your gullet every moment of every day, you actually feel an instant of serene cosmic understanding in something that someone else has created. How might we foster that brief moment of shared humanity into a long-lasting relationship between kindred humans?

My own main methods of maintaining a dialog are email and text messages.

Texting

The platform I use for SMS communications is called Community. The number you see in your phone is 310-347-4597, but I don’t actually see your phone number at all. Here’s a screenshot of my side (names redacted):

When you first text me, Community will ask you for the following information:

• first and last name

• gender identity

• location

• birthdate

• email address

I can use this information to, say, send out a “happy birthday” text to you, or send you a note regarding an upcoming show in your city. I’m able to chat one on one with folks, or send out campaigns out to groups of people based on location. This is important because a show announcement for Seattle is not very helpful to people who live in Houston. Targeting means that I can give updates to the people who might care the most, without aggravating the people who would care the least.

People often ask if they’re getting texts from a bot. When you first text me, there are some automated bot texts, but they explicitly say they’re from “Danbot”. Sometimes you’ll receive something in a wider “blast” alongside other folks getting the same note, but that comes from me. And any other kind of one-to-one message is from me and only me. Sometimes it takes a lot of time to get through the inbox, but I try to read every note and get back to everyone.

Now here’s the important privacy part. Community encrypts personal information and will never sell your data. Here’s what they say on the matter:

Respecting the privacy of both our Leaders and Members is central to our values. We do not sell personal information. To find out more, please read our Privacy Policy

And I also will never sell your data. Sounds gross. I wouldn’t know how. And Community doesn’t even tell me your phone number.

Email

My newsletter (the one you’re seeing now) is hosted by Substack. Most recipients are on the free tier, and that is absolutely fine by me - I’m just happy to have access to your inbox. And considering that social media is generally a race to the shortest attention span, I dig a more long-form medium.

Some people opt for the paid tier, and they enjoy some perks like access to a massive vault of live show recordings or un-released demos of new songs I’m working on. To be honest, I imagine that some folks are paid subscribers just to be supportive, and barely even dig into the perks. Those people are friggin’ angels. It all helps me feed my hungry, hungry, children and feel like I’m offering something of value to the world.

Substack does show me your email addresses, same as most any email-based platform would. As with Community, Substack does not sell personal information. And of course, neither would I. Ever. Here’s some of their CCPA Policy:

This CCPA Policy is incorporated by reference into the Substack Privacy Policy. While the framework used here is based in the provisions of the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”), we provide the rights described here to all our users…

No Sale of Personal Information

We do not sell personal information.

In conclusion

Do awesome shit, build community, and don’t be a jerk.

Thanks for visiting my TED talk :)

x
Dan